Are you getting yours?

Mme Valerie Davenet (left) Director of the Environment, with Mme Marie-Pierre Gramaglia, Minister of Public Works, the Environment and Urban Development at “A bag for life” launch.

The campaign to send some 22,000 Monaco homes by post “Un sac pour la vie” (A bag for life), is in full swing this week, compliments of the Monaco Government.

And Monaco Life is supporting the initiative by asking readers to spread the environmentally-friendly message. Take a creative picture of you with your new bag anywhere in Monaco and tag the photo in Instagram (@monacolife_) or Facebook (@monacolife.net) #sacpourlavie #monacolife. We’ll post various shots on our homepage and over the next month, the winning image will win a year’s subscription to Monaco Life’s Premium Service, which includes free access to Urbanologie.

Although a ban against the use of plastic shopping bags has been in effect in the Principality since June 1, 2016, Mme Marie-Pierre Gramaglia, Minister of Public Works, the Environment and Urban Development, launched the “A bag for life” initiative officially on September 7.

“There are 250 billion plastics bags in the Mediterranean sea,” Mme Gramaglia pointed out, and each bag takes 450 years to decompose. In Europe, each person uses on average 200 plastic bags per year.

“The Bag for Life campaign therefore has two meanings,” the Minister, in the presence of Mme Valerie Davenet, Director of the Environment, added. “First, a reusable biodegradable cotton bag you can use for life, and second, one less plastic bag in the Mediterranean.”

In a week’s time, a royal blue cotton bag, 35 x 35 cm, designed with the words “Un sac pour la vie, A bag for life” will be sent in the mail to each Monaco resident, with a letter from Mme Gramaglia explaining the initiative and an educational pamphlet about plastic bags and the environment.

“We want to convince people to use reusable bags,” Mme Gramaglia said. “We can’t wait for the change, we are the change.”

There are 200 stores in Monaco supporting the plastic bag ban campaign. But the “Sac pour la vie” bags will not be for sale or available from any shop.

A tasteful informative animated video in French will be released in parallel to raise awareness about the negative impact plastic has on the environment and to help promote the “A bag for life campaign”. An English version, with a young boy’s voiceover, is due to be released in the coming weeks.

At the beginning of the New Year 2017, there will be a further ban on disposable packaging plastic bags, like you use to buy fruit and vegetables in the supermarket, that are less than 30 percent bio-based materials (this will rise to 60 percent in 2025). And from January 1, 2020, plastic cutlery and disposable kitchenware will also be forbidden and replaced with utensils made from plant-based compostable materials, the new generation of plastic.

“It’s all about changing our habits,” Mme Gramaglia emphasised.

The ban on plastic bags also went into effect in France on July 1, 2016.

[caption id="attachment_12504" align="alignnone" width="800"] Electrically-powered bicycle now used by La Poste. Photo: Cjp24[/caption]
The French state is offering €200 towards the cost of buying an electrically assisted bicycle. The payment will be offered from now until January 31, 2018. The motor must be less than 3kW and without a lead battery, according to the Official Journal published on Saturday, February 18. Each payment will be limited to one per person, and not per machine.
A number of local authorities – Paris, Blois, Rouen – already offer up to €400 as a subsidy, and the €200 from the state would be on top of this. Motorised bicycles usually cost more than €700 euros. In Aix-les-Bains, Savoie, 400 people have already benefited from a subsidy of €250, amounting to about 1.3 percent of the town’s total population.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfr8ZfNwy_s
Monaco’s Government has reported that the candidacy for UNESCO World Heritage Site listing for the Mediterranean Alps has taken an important step forward.
On Friday, February 24, in Cuneo, Italy’s Minister of the Environment Gian Luca Galletti formalised the candidacy of the Mediterranean Alps, the file having been deposited by the Italian Minister a few weeks earlier with the UNESCO Secretariat in Paris.
The application is for a transboundary site covering an area of nearly 270,000 hectares, focused on geological values (UNESCO Criterion VIII). The perimeter of the area extends over land and sea and involves the three states of Italy, France and Monaco.
Elected officials from the 79 municipalities concerned (including 28 in Italy), all the directors of the Italian parks, the parliamentarians of the region and French and Monegasque representatives were present.
The Principality of Monaco was represented by the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation’s Philippe Mondielli, Scientific Director of the Foundation and Hélène El Missouri, Project Director and Member of the Foundation's Italian Branch.
“Do not be surprised at the success of this application. There are all the positive features here, all the desire to work together and a perfect marriage between environment and development that is not easy to find elsewhere,” Gian Luca Galletti said.